The third book in the Charles Lenox series (after The September Society and the Agatha Award nominee A Beautiful Blue Death) finds the Victorian gentleman detective juggling a heated race for a Parliament seat with his amateur investigation of the mysterious Christmas deaths of two London newsmen, even as his betrothed, Lady Jane Grey, seems to be postponing their wedding.

"Somewhere in detective heaven, Sherlock Holmes and Lord Peter Wimsey are already preparing a glass of hot whisky for Mr. Charles Lenox. This suave and flinty sleuth has a gorgeously dangerous future ahead of him, and so do lovers of Victorian mysteries. I can't wait to see where Charles Finch takes us next."—Louis Bayard